Protective hood



Oct. 10, 1950. J. DE GRAZIA 2,524,775

PROTECTIVE HOOD Filed Jan. 831947 IF'TORNEY Patented Oct. 10, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,524,775 PROTECTIVE noon 7 Joseph'De Grazia, Washington, D. C.

.hpplication January s, 1947, Serial No. 720,892 I V 2 Claims. (01. 2-204) (Grantedgunder the act of March 3, 1883, as

The invention described herein, if patented, may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

My invention relates to a protective hood, and

more particularly to a head covering consisting of a fiat sheet of flexible material and drawstring means arranged in such a manner that the sheet can be draped about the head of the wearer.

Hoods, head scarves and similar items of apparel have been used for immemorial times, and are well known to the art. A shortcoming common to-most of them is the difficulty of fastening them securely about the head of the wearer to prevent accidental displacement of the hood.

This invention thus has as one of its principal objects a hood which is so dimensioned that These and other objects of the present invention will appear more fully as the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof proceeds in connection with the appended drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a head covering in accordance with my invention, in use;

Fig, 2 is a perspective View of a modification of the device illustrated in Fig. 1, showing a head covering in accordance with my invention as an integral part of a raincape;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the head covering illus-' trated in Fig. 1, when not in use; and

Fig, 4 is a detailed sectional perspective view of aportion of the head covering shown inFig. 3

at the location of line 4-4 thereon.

More particularly, reference numeral II] denotes a flat sheet of flexible material, constituting the body of the head covering. The size of sheet I!) must be sufficiently large to protect the head, and preferablypart or all of the shoulders of the wearer, and thus is somewhat larger than a conventional head scarf. As a head and shoulder covering, sheet ID has a substantially straight edge II and an arcuate edge I2. The edge II forms an uninterrupted chord joining the ends 7 "amended April 30, 1928; 3'70 0. G. 757) of the arc of edge I2. The are of edge I2 should preferably be so curved that when the covering is draped about the shoulders of the wearer and the drawstrings (which will be presently discussed in greater detail) are tightened, the periphery of the lower edge will be substantially equidistant from the ground on the body of an average-size wearer.

To drape sheet Iil about the head of the wearer, it is equipped with a pair of drawstrings I3, I4. Drawstrings I3 and i i are endwise fastened to sheet IE3 at spaced points I5. I6 at or near edge are equidistant from the center of edge I I. path of drawstrings I3 and I4 is defined by arcuate drawstring-housing I! which has its terminals at pointsI5 and I6, Drawstring-housing I! ,is suitably secured to sheet I8 by heat-sealing the parallel edges I8, I9 of the former to the latter, or bystitching or by other suitable means. Arcuate drawstring housing I! should run substantially concentric with arcuate edge I2 of the sheet, in order that the latter may drape around thebody of the wearer in a graceful manner. By heat-sealing the drawstring housing I! to the sheet, the strength of the latter is increased, and weakening of the structure by needle holes, which would result from conventional stitching, is avoided, Drawstrings I3 and I 4 thus run parallel in an arcuate path defined by edges I8 and IQ of drawstring-housing I! and by housing I! and sheet If] themselves. The free end of drawstring !4 extends beyond and protrudes from the terminal of housing I! near point It, the fasten ing point of drawstring I3. Likewise, the free end of drawstring I3 extends beyond and protrudes from the terminal of housing I! near point I5,

the fastening point of drawstring I4.

An elongated edge strip 20 is joined to sheet If) along its straight edge I I, preferably by heat- .sealing. Edge strip Zllserves as a reinforcement of edge I! and as a means for affixing the fast ends of drawstrings I3 and I4 to the hood; as shown in Figures 3 and 4, edge strip 20 is locally separated from sheet ID at drawstring attachment points I5 and I6 in order to enable drawstrings I3 and I4 to be conveniently tied to edge strip 20.

The area A of sheet IU, enclosed by edge I8 of housing I! and by that portion of edge I! which lies between points I5 and I6, thus con- 3 stitutes the head covering, while area B of sheet H], which lies beyond housing [1, constitutes a shoulder covering (as shown in Fig. 1).

When in use, that portion of edge I l of sheet H] which lies between drawstring terminals 15 and I8 frames the face of the wearer, while housing ll surrounds the neck of the wearer. By adjusting drawstrings I3 and I4, housing I! and that portion of sheet Ill which is fastened thereto are suitably tightened to provide a secure fastening of the hood and a tight seal against rain, snow, etc.

While the size of area A of sheet is predetermined by the surface of a human head, the size of area B may be chosen at will. If no shoulder protection is desired, edge l2 of sheet [0 may be made to coincide with outer edge 19 of housing l1, and area B thus eliminated altogether. If the average distance of edge [2 of sheet l0 from housing I7 is in the order of 1 ft., more or less, the outer area B of sheet If] provides an adequate shoulder drape. Area B may be still further enlarged by increasing the average distance between edge i2 and housing I! to several feet, which results in the raincape structure shown in Fig. 2, comprising a headcovering A corresponding in size to portion A of the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, but having a large body-covering portion B integral with portion A. Buttons or analogous conventional fastening means (not shown) may be provided at the fly front of such a cape.

Any waterproof or water-repellant flexible material is suitable for the manufacture of the protective hood described in the foregoing part of'my specification. For rapid and secure assembly of body and drawstring-housingof the hood, I prefer the use of conventional plastic heat-sealable material for both, but do not desire to limit the scope of my invention to such material.

I am aware that hoods, preformed in threedimensional shape to correspond roughly to the configuration of a human head, and equipped with drawstring means, are known'to the art, and I do not desire to encompass such-devices withing the scope of my invention.

It willthus be seen that I have provided-asimple, inexpensive and durable protective covering for the head and adjacent body portions of the user, which can be conveniently carried in a pocket, handbag, pouch, or inside a hat when not in use. Its applications are necessarily Wide; while eminently useful in protecting members of the military forces against inelemencies of the weather, it is equally suitable for analogous use by other persons. Obviously, the preferred embodiment of my invention described above and illustrated in the drawing, as well as the modificationthereof likewise described in the aforementioned places, is capable of changes in dimensions or minor variations in arrangement of the component'parts without departing from the spirit of my invention, which variations thus fall within the scope thereof. I therefore desire to be limited in the coverage of my invention only by the appended claims.

Iclaim:

1. A head covering comprising a flat sheet of flexible material having a straight edge and an arcuate edge, said straight edge forming a substantially uninterrupted chord joining the ends of said arcuate edge, arcuate drawstring-housing means associated with said sheet substantially concentrically with said arcuate sheet edge, said means ending in a pair of terminals located proximate said straight edge of said sheet, and a pair of parallel drawstrings in said housing means, one of said drawstrings being fixed proximate one of said terminals and having a free end extending beyond the other of said terminals, and the other of said drawstrings being fixed proximate said other terminal and having a free end extending beyond the first-named terminal, said straight edge being adapted to conform to the contours of the face of the wearer and said arcuate edge being adapted to drape about the body of the wearer below the neck substantially equidistantly from the ground along the periphery of said arcuate edge when said drawstrings are tightened.

2. A head covering comprising a flat sheet of flexible material having a straight edge and an arcuate edge, said straight edge forming a substantially uninterrupted chord joining the ends of said arcuate edge, an elongated edge strip joined to said sheet along said straight edge, arcuate drawstring-housing means associated with said sheet substantially concentrically with said arcuate sheet edge, said means ending in a pair of terminals located proximate said straight edge of said sheet, and a pair of parallel drawstrings insaid housing means, one of said drawstrings being fixed to said edge strip proximate one of said terminals and having a free end extending beyond the other of said terminals, and the other of said drawstrings being fixed to said edge strip proximate said other terminal and having a free end extending beyond the first-named terminal, said straight edge being adapted to conform to the contours of the face of the wearer and said arcuate edge being adapted to drape about the body of the wearer below the neck substantially equidistantly from the ground along the periphery of said arcuate edge when said drawstrings are tightened.

. JOSEPH DE GRAZIA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

